History

2001
Taking into account conceptional development, the former "Virtual Laboratory of
Physiology" is renamed "Virtual Laboratory. Essays and Resources on the
Experimentalization of Life, 1830-1930".

2000
"The Virtual Laboratory for Physiology: Experimental Systems in 19th Century
Life Sciences" is presented at the Symposium on "Virtual Research? The impact of
new technologies on scientific practices" (organized by Helga Nowotny) at the
Eidgenössische Hochschule in Zurich in June. The practices of experimentalization
become the focus holding together configurations between life sciences, technology,
art and literature in the 19th Century. The VL becomes part of the project
"The Experimentalization
of Life", funded by the Volkswagen Stiftung (2000-2005).

1999
A CD-ROM of the VL is produced. It contains the basic twofold structure which has
been preserved until now. In addition to the archive it includes an electronic
platform were historians can present and discuss studies connected to the research
field of the VL. The "Virtual Lab" is presented at the Conference of the Alfred
P. Sloan Foundation on "Using the World Wide Web for Historical Research in Science
and Technology" (organized by Timothy Lenoir) at Stanford University in August.

1998
After repeated remodelling the holdings of the VL get reorganized into the
following sections: EXPERIMENTS, TECHNOLOGY, OBJECTS, SITES, EXPOSITION, PEOPLE,
LIBRARY, CONCEPTS. The range of the research field is broadened from focusing
exclusively on physiology to experimental practises in all life sciences, art and
literature.

1997
The first version of the Virtual Laboratory (VL) was conceived under the title
of "Virtual Institute of Physiology" Project (VIPP). It was centered around the idea of
illustrating how the technical conditions of physiological research evolved
throughout the nineteenth century. Besides laying out an electronic database of
texts and images concerning 19th century physiology, advanced technologies such
as the animation of images were already being explored.